Israel Attorney General says PM’s nomination for Shin Bet chief ‘illegal’
The Hindu
Netanyahu's pick for Shin Bet chief faces legal challenges, sparking controversy over the appointment process in Israel.
Israel's Attorney General has said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's nomination of an army major general as head of domestic intelligence is "illegal", after the Supreme Court found his move to sack the incumbent chief unlawful.
Mr. Netanyahu named David Zini as his pick to lead the Shin Bet last week, after months of legal and political wrangling over his attempt to dismiss the current chief Ronen Bar.
In a letter to Mr. Netanyahu obtained by AFP on Tuesday, Attorney General Gali Baharav Miara pointed to the recent "court decisions regarding the end of the Shin Bet director's mandate".
"Your decision regarding Major General Zini, made in a situation of conflict of interest and contradicting the conclusions of the judgment as well as the judicial directives in force, is illegitimate and illegal," she said.
The Prime Minister announced Zini's selection a day after the Supreme Court ruled the government's decision to fire Bar was "improper and unlawful".
Mr. Netanyahu said in March that he was dismissing Bar because of an "ongoing lack of trust".
That move was challenged in court by non-profit organisations and Israel's political opposition, which decried it as a sign of an anti-democratic drift on the part of Mr. Netanyahu's right-wing coalition government.
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